Our Family
John L. Mensonides
Founder (and chief fishmonger)
John has followed a winding path to founding Ohana Seafood. A native of Modesto, his childhood was spent attending local schools, working on the family dairies, going to the lake with his friends and family, and hanging out with his three younger brothers and about two dozen cousins whenever possible! After a four year attendance at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan he returned home with a college degree, a beautiful wife, and no idea what he was going to do. It wasn’t long before a 22 year career in financial planning took shape, and the company he helped found still flourishes in Modesto today. Retiring from finance led to four years of private consulting and that led to a job offer from a consulting client. After over five years of successfully growing a Bay Area seafood wholesaler/distributor as General Manager/Sales Manager he was abruptly “released back into the water” and decided to apply his accumulated knowledge to create Ohana Seafood.
John loves reading, fishing, sailing, travel, and cooking.
Kathleen Mensonides
The beautiful wife (and business partner)
Kathleen was raised in London, Ontario, Canada as the youngest of six brothers and sisters. Her childhood was filled with family camping trips and a love of the water. She met John in her final year of college and spent most of that year trying to avoid him. It is a testament to his salesmanship skills that in December of 1985 she said yes to his marriage proposal and they have been husband and wife for 33 years and counting. Kathleen has devoted her professional career to teaching in local public schools. She is also mom to three lovely daughters and a terrific son, mom-in-law to two great son-in-laws, and Oma (grandmother) to four busy young grandsons!
Kathleen enjoys singing, exercise, sailing, travel (especially to see those grandsons), and John’s cooking.
Jason Mensonides
The terrific son (and business partner/route manager)
Jason has been a part of the Modesto community since 1994. After attending local schools and graduating from Modesto High he spent some time at MJC, mostly to play water polo! He developed an appreciation for the restaurant industry by working in some of Modesto’s finest dining establishments before he was tricked into working as the Central Valley route driver for the Bay Area seafood company his dad was running. He soon became one of the best drivers in the company and quickly demonstrated a natural ability to build relationships with the restaurants he served while also helping to grow the route he worked on. He is a founding partner and works directly with his dad every day to make Ohana Seafood the best seafood source in Central California.
Jason loves cars (especially vintage BMW’s), bowling, fishing, his dog Andre, and his girlfriend Susan.
Next Steps...
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